Online safety & content laws in Mauritania (2026)

Law No. 007-2016 on Cybercrime criminalises unauthorised computer access, data interference, and — under Article 21 — online content 'prejudicial to Islamic values,' a vague provision used to prosecute social media users and journalists. No platform-liability or content-moderation obligations are placed on intermediaries.

Law No. 2020-015, adopted 24 June 2020, criminalises publishing false information and creating fake digital identities on social media, with penalties of 3 months to 5 years imprisonment and fines of 50,000–200,000 MRU. Human rights organisations have criticised it as lacking judicial independence safeguards and being used against political dissidents and journalists.

Law No. 020-2017 on the protection of personal data establishes a data-protection framework, but it has been largely inactive due to the absence of implementing decrees and the lack of a fully operational supervisory authority or CERT.

Mauritania has a documented pattern of ordering mobile internet shutdowns during elections and protests. In July 2024, authorities imposed a 22-day mobile internet blackout following post-election protests, costing an estimated USD 45.1 million and affecting 2.2 million users. A similar week-long shutdown occurred in June 2023.

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs actively blocks websites considered anti-Islamic or pornographic. There is no independent oversight body for these blocking decisions, and no published transparency reports on sites blocked.

Mauritania has no legislation establishing age-verification requirements for online platforms, nor any DSA- or OSA-style platform-liability or systemic risk framework. The country ratified the AU Malabo Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection in May 2023, which provides a continental baseline, but domestic implementation remains incomplete.